#AbuDhabiGP FP2: @ValtteriBottas heads @MercedesAMGF1 one-two. #F1

Valtteri Bottas topped the time-sheets ahead of Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton in the FP2 session at the Abu Dhabi GP, which was stopped due to a red flag when Kimi Raikkonen’s Alfa Romeo Racing C39 caught fire.

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen ended the day third behind Hamilton.

But the trio were unable post a best effort on the C5 red side-walled softer compounds as a first corner off, lap-time invalidated and encountering slow traffic costed all three drivers respectively.

The first 20 minutes of the hour and a half-long session was dedicated to running Pirelli’s prototype 2021 C4 tyre that the Italian company has developed for use in the next campaign.

All 20 cars hit the circuit early for the evening session, with Renault F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon leading the field as the pit-lane exit light went green.

The Frenchman set the P1 benchmark with a 1:40.101, before Alfa Romeo’s Raikkonen rapidly brought it down to a 1:38.943.

Bottas jumped to the top with his first timed flyer on the 2021 prototype rubber, a 1:37.818, with Hamilton fitting in less than a tenth behind.

The cars went back into the pits after 20 minutes, with Bottas first in as the Finn encountered a slight issue with his accelerator pedal going too far beyond it’s normal limit.

Hamilton was the first to emerge on track with the current season yellow-marked C4 mediums, taking top spot with a 1:36.479.

But Bottas soon reclaimed top spot at the end of the first half hour with his initial hot-lap on the mediums – a 1:36.276, which turned out to be the sessions quickest time.

This was however, because Hamilton went faster on his first flying lap on the softer compounds, but had his best effort invalidated due to exceeding track limits for running wide at the last corner.

Hamilton’s 1:36.097 had not been majorly quicker than the best time on the medium rubber, but lost out as the Briton slid too wide exiting the final turn and his time was deleted for a track infringement.

Bottas was next on the softs, but the Finn caught a snap of oversteer at the first corner and took an excursion into the run-off area, aborting his lap in the process.

Almost 10 minutes later, Verstappen emerged on the softer tyres and posted the session’s quickest time in the initial sector, but already had faded behind Bottas’ benchmark effort in the second sector before he backed off that lap after closing up behind last weekend’s Sakhir Grand Prix winner Sergio Perez, who was completing a long-race-pace run for BWT Racing Point F1 Team.

Verstappen then completed a personal best time on the softs, only a touch faster than his best effort on the mediums, which he also lost for running wide at the final corner exit.

The teams had switched focused to the longer race-paced runs when the session was halted after Raikkonen’s Alfa Romeo Racing C39 racer caught fire as he swept towards the end of sector one with under 20 minutes left on the clock.

The Finn peeled off near a marshal’s fire post a short way down the pit-straight, by which time the rear of his car erupted in flames.

Raikkonen was able to jump out of the car as the red flags were waved, helping the marshals to put out the fire – with his C39 racer continuing to burn for a long time after the initial flames had been extinguished.

The session was stopped for twenty minutes, but did resume for the final five minutes, which saw Hamilton stopping in the pit-lane – in-front of the Haas F1 Team garage – as he could not select a gear.

The Mercedes mechanics sprinted down the pit-lane and the seven-time World Champion was able to get running again, Hamilton and Bottas having opted to run the 2021 prototype tyres before Raikkonen’s C39 caught fire.

Red Bull Racing’s Alexander Albon was fourth quickest (fastest on the softs), with the Thai-Briton driver also losing several laps for exceeding track limits at the last corner earlier in the session, and wound up 0.987 seconds adrift of Bottas’ Abu Dhabi GP FP2 benchmark.

McLaren’s Lando Norris completed the top five and ahead of Renault’s Ocon who was sixth and Racing Point’s Perez who finished FP2 seventh.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc ended the session eighth and in-front of Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo who took ninth and Racing Point’s Lance Stroll rounded out the top ten and was 1.284 seconds off of Bottas’ Abu Dhabi GP FP2 time-topping effort.

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat and Pierre Gasly were 11th and 13th respectively with McLaren’s Carlos Sainz splitting the duo in 12th.

The aforementioned Raikkonen was 14th quickest, ahead of former Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel who finished 15th and Haas F1 Team’s 16th-placed Kevin Magnussen.

Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi was 17th and 2.288 seconds adrift of Bottas’ Abu Dhabi GP FP2 benchmark time.

Williams Racing’s George Russell and Nicholas Latifi were 18th and at the rear respectively with Haas F1 Team’s Pietro Fittipaldi taking 19th.

Before Raikkonen’s car was engulfed in flames, Russell had to bring his Mercedes-powered FW43 racer back to the pits with a suspected MGU-K issue, smoking emitting from the rear of his Williams.

As the Briton’s car was being pushed back into the garage, his mechanics had to move away from the car as it’s electricity warning light was flashing red and was it was sitting isolated in his garage as the problem continued long after Russell had jumped out the FW43.

You can see the Full Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2020 Free Practice 2 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2020/races/1061/abu-dhabi/practice-2.html

You can catch up on the earlier FP1 session here:

#AbuDhabiGP FP1 Report: @Max33Verstappen tops time-sheets. #F1

Read this weekend’s race preview at the link:

#Formula1 Etihad Airways #AbuDhabiGP 2020 Preview. #F1